MLM Bot Watch 18- chat about Utah based tragicomic cultastic racketeering scamalangadingdongs like Forever Living, Ariix, Herbalife, Younique, Juiceplus etc etc etc

[chuckingstones]

Eyespying's blog
Timeless Vie Blog
Timeless Vie FB
Timeless Vie Twitter
Bot Watch Blog
Bot Watch FB
Hommetrepreneur FB
Hommetrepreneur Twitter

Motorheadmum I'm not surprised people don't look into all of the ins and outs of MLMs before signing up. I have recently come to MN from Netmums where there is an endless supply of hard of thinking, gullible people who sign up to these things and then lie through their teeth about their profits. I much prefer being here, where people seem to at least have a couple of brain cells to rub together and can see past the smoke and mirrors.

If you're the sort of moron who is seduced by the "You can make amazing profits, hon! Bossbabe!!" nonsense then you won't have the nouse to do any googling. Part of the reasons why sites like TV are so important - they have to protect the stupid from themselves.

There is a little bit of me that wonders if LTW isn't actually a pyramid scheme and is just a scam scam. Beginning to sound like they are using the MLM model to rope suckers people in and then are often but not always just keeping the money.

There's a big part of me thinking that twoodle

I'd be interested in eyes view, I do miss his wise insights on this thread. Are we being distracted by the wampum again and not seeing the truth about LTW. #teameyes

*glasg0wmum
*
You'll often find that people here say something along the lines of 'Anybody can be inculcated' and I believe that to be true - if the right person gets you at the right time and in the right way. We all have moments when we're more susceptible and MLMs know all the tricks. And pressure their adherents into using them quite ruthlessly.

I guess we all like to think that we're immune to such blandishments but I doubt we really are - just armed with some foreknowledge which likely makes us too difficult a target to make it worth prospecting us.

Spread that foreknowledge.

Much respect to those people who go inside an MLM and then manage to escape. I don't actually know if I would have the strength to do that.

View any wampum only for what it is, Twoodle. It's just a combination hook and raincoat.

Gotta be honest twoodle the signs are not good are they? not been running very long, run from not exactly swish serviced offices in the middle of a seemingly very run down estate, one directors previous company was dissolved 'relatively' recently, neither director 'appears' (in otherwords I could just be missing some information) to have a grocery background, The weird set up/combination of grocery products available, the poor spelling on the site, the logo that was clearly created in less than 5 mins on a readily available app
(which I have!- see my parslaii bush planet logo made on the same app). The complaints from those who have placed orders and not yet received either them or a refund?

None of these things above are necessarily dodgy (with the exception of not receiving goods purchased) if you are talking about a small start up business or sole trader set up... However, trying to sell this dream to people when you have that kind of set up? Something just doesnt add up.... I would like to add, these are my personal opinions formed on information I have found that is readily available about this company and its directors on the internet, however I stand to be corrected if there is more information available as yet undiscovered. The company is obviously a legitimate set up according to companies house, but it just all seems very rushed and amatuerish IMHO...

One additional point, if you sign up as a 'member' do you get classed as an Idependent business owner? As with the other mlms? Because I am wondering where that leaves people if they wished to make a complaint to trading standards about non receipt of goods... As far as I am aware, business owners do not have the same consumer protection as the average customer for example. Its a curious situation 🤔

I recall reading about a large case, many years ago, where the presiding judge said something like 'This is a very ordinary alleged fraud - with lots of zeros'. (My memory may not be exact on the precise wording of that statement but the 'lots of zeros' part remains clear to me.)

Best not to be distracted by Internet carrying (eg the lots of zeros.) The net makes operations faster, easier and - usually - prettier. It hasn't changed human nature much though

The LTW directors appear to be from an affiliate marketing background (as are some of their top bots). That's another kind of online scam but no actual wampum is involved.
To me this looks like a logistical nightmare to set up, keep running and maintain. I used to work for suppliers to the big supermarkets and I remember reading in trade press what a horrendous, expensive headache it was setting up the big supermarkets for online shopping and its still not profitable either. There's a reason they're not offering fresh foods and I expect they never will. I've had two clients over the years (fashion trade) who sell online only and I just can't begin to tell you how complex it is. One went under, not because the product was bad but because of logistical nightmares to do with a third party owned warehouse that was totally incompetent. The other one is struggling because of lack of experience with merchandising - millions of followers on social media, can shift serious volume on some lines, but don't have the skills to predict what stock they should be ordering and when - on one line they over ordered and have 16 years cover on that stock (it should be 16 weeks). So I wonder if LTW will collapse due to operational reasons, I honestly can't even see how it could be profitable even to the scammers. There could be cash flow issues which mean there isn't enough money in the business to buy, warehouse and process the stock They are struggling even with 10,000 investors and still recruiting more.

^I suppose if I was in this scam and I raised these concerns, they'd tell me to work on my mindset and read the Law of Attraction again, then delete all of my constructive criticism from everything. And I'm sure that's exactly what they would do in Ocado and Tesco Direct, too isn't it?

"The company is obviously a legitimate set up according to companies house, "

This doesn't really tell us anything. Anyone can buy a registered company with very minimal effort within the space of a couple of hours (if not less)

and anyone can bite off more than they can chew, doesn't matter if the ethos of the company is around magic wishes of unicorn cheques, you've still got to 100% know what you are doing on the ops side and I'm not at all convinced.

I know throwing I agree, just my 'disclaimer' 😉

I also know that being limited means they can pretty much just walk away from the whole house of cards when it starts to fall, without much personal liability! 😉

Smiinky exactly, the cashflow issues are potentially massive, thats what made me question whether it was a dropship operation, because without enormous intial investment, I cant see how else they could deal with the orders that they 'expect' to receive. miney mentioned four lifetree 'owned' distribution centres I think? I Cant seem to find reference to those in any literature or online though? Has anyone else found these at all?

Thing is, I can understand how dropshipping is possible for consumer goods. But not food. I'd love too know how the back end ops is set up. They may be paying a third party wholesaler to handle it but that's not without risk. And it seems utterly bonkers to receive your food shopping by Parcelforce five days after you pay for it. It's bizarre. I'm intrigued.

Is anyone in a position to repost the link to Timeless Vie in particular? (My device is 'in a mood' ) I'm just re-reading those posts by that very brave ex-MLM manager and more people might perhaps like to be aware of them.

timeless vie blog

timeless vie Facebook

Thank you, throwing.

Those are some posts.

I had a search around Facebook for 'LTW Scam' and there's lots of 'this isn't a scam' which you'd expect of something that appears to be a massive scam. I also came across the lady who I think is the one who is on Netmums, Lucy.
The amount of abuse she gets from her up line and other LTW people is just as you would expect from the MLM world. Anyone who says anything negative is shunned and bullied.

LTW worries me more than the others though. It's just more scammy somehow

I think I've come across a new one today - Nature's Sunshine.

The personal trainer at the gym I go to has mentioned it quite a bit on her facebook page. I thought she was a sensible, serious personal trainer (her background certainly suggests that) but it's funny how someone's involvement in these MLMs suddenly makes you see them as less trustworthy and lose respect for them.

I did a quick search on here and someone asked about Nature's Sunshine back on about thread 5 but there was no response .

People invest heavily in these schemes though, Dolly - not only financially but in terms of personal reputation and relationships etc.

They won't want to find out they were wrong. In fact they're sometimes quite desperate for them to succeed because the alternative is almost too much to contemplate. That's partly why leaving one can be such a big deal.

Goodness, Norbert.

...A focus on emotional factors and how to balance real life drama with their health goals....???

Yawn, where have we heard this guff before ?

The person (in a video from above fb page) says that it is worth risking joining for £35. "If it doesn't work out it is 35 quid sewn up right, 35 quid, if it don' work out it don' work out, you know, it's not massive amounts of money is it?". She goes on to say "Guys message me...get involved, seriously". Yes, guys, she needs you to make money off you so sign right up .